Posted on 03/27/2006 4:45:39 AM PST by Atlantic Bridge
The case of Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman has attracted worldwide attention. Responding to international pressure, the government in Kabul has promised Rahman's release. But the case demonstrates that human rights continue to be in short supply in the Hindukush region, despite the fall of Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime five years ago.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, an elegant Pashtun and a member of the aristocratic Popalzai clan, isn't likely to forget the events of last week anytime soon. Ever since he took office just under four years ago, Karzai has been seen as an unmistakable darling of the West -- he's an Afghan with a master's degree in international relations, he speaks English and French and, thanks to Gucci, he even enjoys the reputation of being the "most elegant man on the planet."
Since last Tuesday, however, the phones have been ringing off the hook in Kabul's Arg Palace, as government officials from the West called to express their disgust and outrage over the Rahman case. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced her "displeasure," while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that he was "astonished." Karzai also received a call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who demanded that Afghanistan uphold its "international obligations."
Finally, US President George W. Bush called to let his Afghan counterpart know that his administration was seriously concerned about the "deeply troubling" events in Afghanistan. The US president had just honored Karzai with a surprise visit three weeks earlier, during which he publicly praised Afghanistan for being on the right track. .....snip
Afghan prosecutors threatened Christian convert Abdul Rahman, seen here holding the bible, with the death sentence for abandoning Islam.
(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...
Islam and freedom are not compatible.
The only possible political system for them is secular. Not Germany after WWII, but Turkey and its laizism could be a model for Iraq or Afghanistan.
My personal prediction is, that the current systems only will produce new unrest and barbarism, since they are founded on a barbaric religion. Mr. Rahman is just the the tip of a iceberg. We will hear many troubling news from there in the near future.
Oh, well, this Afghan subject will likely get moved off the medias radar screen anyway as we have more Mexican uprisings around the country.
I have a difficult time with a Nation that was responsible for the Holocaust bitching about a Human Rights Disaster.
I do not. Hitler is since 60 years dust.
The irony is there even if you deny it.
Would you rather live in Germany (3% Muslim), or Afghanistan (99% Muslim)?
Having said that, your question has no relevance to my initial observation.
It is no irony. It is simply boring since nazism has no practical importance in Germany anymore. Discussions about nazism and the rememberance of the holocaust are nessecary but it should be restricted to the historical debate or (if it is going to happen) contemporary antisemitic occurrences. The inclusion of this issue into every discussion about Germany lacks intelligence. Dumb propaganda for dumb people.
I am a German out of a partly jewish family (I am no Jew, but large parts of my family are - Hitler would have killed me). Therefore I know what I am saying.
The worries of your Turkish friend in Bankok are legitimate. Islamistic extremism combined with a new nationalism (i.e. in the recent film "valley of the wolves") is a dangerous mixture in Turkey. In the past the millitary stopped such developments. We will see what the future will bring to us.
(by the way, what is "laizism", do you mean lassez-faire?)
Non mon ami. :-)
I used the German expression for it. I meant "laïcité" or "laicism". The term "laïcité", in its current sense, implies free exercise of religion, but no special status for religion: religious activities should submit to the same set of laws as other activities and are not considered above the law. The government refrains from taking positions on religious doctrine and only considers religious subjects from their practical consequences on the inhabitants' lives.
I have a problem with them doing anything but coming out for Human Rights. It proves that they are honest about the past and are not the same country.
No wonder you protest.
The intolerance of Islam will eventually be its downfall. The win or die strategy always ends up as admit defeat or die.
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